The First Great War
The first great war occured in the early days of Free Realms. This war was between first wolves and vampires, but then evolved into a Werewolf-Vampire conflict that ended with the First Werewolf Empire. Origins When Free Realms opened in 2009, early roleplay consisted of simple, survival roleplay. Players typically did not become non-human beings, but two factions rose, the Vampires (humans who claimed to be vampires) and wolves (people who used the spook-sphere to appear as a wolf. These two factions were natural enemies, and war erupted within the first month of their inception. The War The first great war, unlike most wars in roleplay, was in no spcefic territory, as territory was not really claimed at this point until the end of the war. Fights erupted everywhere, most common in places where large groups of people gathered, like Sanctuary, at the time. Wars were conducted through rp, and duels were used occasionally. During this time period, few players knew of the Free Realms spook sphere code, which turned players into wolves, so the Vampire faction experienced a massive advantage in sheer manpower. Wolves were generally overrun with 5 vampires for every wolf. It is because of this outnumbering that wolves developed efficent (and often savage) fighting styles, making them extremeley skilled on the battle field. During the beginning of the first great war, a wolf named Lykos (aincent-wolf language, translation unknown) rose to power, leading the Werewolf division. Opposing him was the great Vampiric leader Ooden-tag (yes, these were actual names). The two were rumored to be good friends before the war began, as hinted by battle slurs during the war. Lykos took an extremely tactical approach, pioneering the first realms battle strategy ever seen. Although his fighting tactics exceeded that of any Vampiric war party, Lykos fell midway through the war, surrounded by wolves at the edge of Blackspore. It was when Lykos died that Wolves fled to Blackspore, finding a seemingly empty, rp friendly home. The wolves instantly set up a group there. Although there were no guilds at this time, leaders of factions were generally apparent. After the fall of Lykos, Ooden-tag continued his campaign against the wolves, deploying small vampire strike teams to various areas in the realms, but ultimitely finding no luck, as the wolves were hiding in blackspore. After the fall of Lykos, the wolves selected Dark Paw, a.k.a. Mike Radiantsaber (he changed his name mid-war), son of Lykos, to lead wolfkind. He accepted the offer, and his mate Dark Pelt accompanied him. Under Dark Paw, wolf kind experienced a revolution in political policy, positions were deployed for the first time, with designated trainers, hunters, and guards. Dark Paw also extended his alliances to the newely formed coyote group, which was a northeastern group of wolves who prefered to be coyotes. Dark Paw was able to successfully defend his new homeland of Blackspore for a long period of time, extending the war into a long, slow, bloodbath, with wolves still hopelessly outnumbered. Although losing, Dark Paw was able to kill Ooden-Tag, who was excecuted in a public gathering of the wolves in the graveyard. Midway into Dark Paw's war, the Coyote faction decided to abandon their wolf bretheren in favor of the Vampires. Coyote leader Dust Paw (unknown true name) approached the beheaded Vampire nation and offered his assistance, who of course agreed. The Vampires, recieving new wolf information regarding blackspore, planned their final push on the wolves. Using their sheer numbers, the Vampires were able to push the wolves deep into blackspore, cornering them. During this final battle, Dark Pelt, who was now carrying Black Paw in her stomach, soon to be born, was cornered. Dark Paw used the last of his forces to defend her, ultimitely trapping the wolves. Midway into the final push of the vampires, Mist Pelt, Dark Paw's second in command, told Dark Paw and Dark Pelt to flee blackspore, as the were the wolves' final hope of salvation for their race. Mist Pelt, followed by Light Claw, a young wolf, made the last stand of the wolves in the graveyard, where the two (along with remaining wolf forces) were captured and held in the new Vampiric settlements on the coast of Blackspore. Dark Paw and Dark Pelt fled to the Cliffs of Blackspore, being tailed by a few Vampire skirmishers. they climbed into the cliffs of Blackspore, where Dark Paw was hit by a poision arrow. Dragging the already wounded Dark Pelt, the two took refuge in a small settlement of rocks, with the Moon Pool . Dark Paw and Dark Pelt bathed in the pool, which was blessed by Moon Pack. The power absorbed by the pool turned the two into the first werewolves, giving them the divine power of the first line, which no other wolves recieved. Although this is the accepted roleplay explanation of what happened, the true first transformation occured when SOE accidentally released their Werewolf Costume (new that year) one month early, when this battle occured, Dark Paw and Dark Pelt had fled the battle, as both were severely hurt, and discovered the costumes, which were recored available on the SOE forums for 5 minuintes. It is assumed they were the only people to recieve them, as no other account exists. The Turning Point in The War With their new transformations, Dark Paw and Dark Pelt were able to infiltrate the Vampiric Camps and free their remaining forces, effectively pushing them out of Blackspore. Dark Paw and Dark Pelt made haste in transforming the rest of their army from wolf to werewolf, giving them a competitive edge in the war. Seeing the transformation, Dust Pelt abandoned the vampires and fled to the north, while his followers joined the ranks of the werewolves. Under the new Werewolf Order, Dark Paw began to expand his reach beyond Blackspore. This was the first account in which territory was openly claimed. The werewolves took all of Greenwood forest, and land all the way to the edge of Lakeshore, uncontested by any but the Vampires, who were able to take northern territories. The Werewolf Empire gave rise to a large increase in werewolf culture and development. A large military fostered by the closed borders of wolf land gave rise to intricate wolf positions, with regional bueracrats and commanders, all reporting back to Dark Paw in blackspore. During this time, wolves further developed their skills with human-weapons, as they were now accepted as both humans and wolves. Black Paw was also born during this time period, along with his siblings, Black Forest and Black Pelt. The End of the War The end of the first great war occured just as the Vampires began to fall. The Vampire order had been diminished to a small group of extremist vampires, hoping to end the war with a bang (failure was inevitable at this point). The Vampires launched a dual attack on Lakeshore and the Greenwood providince that was under the command of newely appointed commander Alex Realms. Seeing the dual attack, Realms left half of his forces in his providince and moved to undefended lakeshore to hold them off. Realms's incredible battle technique held both forces off, but two Vampire leaders, one being son of Ooden-Tag, were able to evade Wolf imperial forces and made it to blackspore, where Dark Paw caught them and ordered a one-on-one duel with the vampire, despite his son's request to have him excecuted. During the battle, Dark Paw and Dark Pelt fell to the vampires, who were subsequently mauled and torn to shreds by Black Paw. It is unknown how the great wolf leaders fell to the vampires, but legend has it that the vampires were the earliest form of power players. Following the death of Dark Paw and Dark Pelt, the Werewolf Empire collapsed (along with the now defeated Vampire order). Alex Realms, being left the throne at an extremely young age, fled the wolf world, taking refuge in Lakeshore under the training of the Flying Dragon Ninjas (actual guild). Black Pelt, the second eldest, fled to Snowhill in persuit of any remaining Vampiric Forces, never to return, and Black Forest (Jacob BlackForest) assumed command of the Wolf world, which fell apart due to the introduction of guilds. The introduction of guilds resulted in the formation of the earlies Free Realms wolf Packs, below is listed the aincent wolf packs, all of which are now dead. 1. Elemental Werewolf Pack 2. Bloodclaw Werewolf Pack 3. Sunset Werewolf Pack 4. Twilight Werewolf Pack 5. Dreamclaw Werewolf Pack 6. Warrior Werewolf Pack 7. ThornClaw Werewolf Pack The end of the first great war gave rise to the Warrior Cats, who claimed much of the lost Vampiric and Werewolf Imperial Territory